Confirmed: 2014 W212 E63 AMG facelift will have all wheel drive and 575 horsepower from the M157 but no dual clutch transmission - No more Performance Package

All hail what appears to be (at least on paper) the new king of the luxury performance sedan segment. The current E63 AMG is already a beast but as reported in October was rumored to get all wheel drive and a dual clutch transmission. Part of that report is now confirmed by MotorTrend who got to spend some time with the new E63 AMG. This will be one the first non-SUV AMG vehicles to get all wheel drive which will coming to more and more models such as the CLA45 AMG.

Mercedes did not just stick the standard 4Matic on the E63, they tailored it to AMG. Head of AMG development Tobias Moers stated, ""We completely reengineered 4Matic to make it work for us." This means the torque split between the front and rear wheels is 33/67 for the E63 AMG all wheel drive unlike 45/55 in the standard E-Class 4Matic. The desire obviously to maintain the rear wheel drive character as much as possible.

Not only that, by by removing all three electronically locking clutches in this version and reducing the size of the rear half-shifts the weight gain penalty will only be 44 pounds. That means with all wheel drive the car will still weigh about as much as the F10 M5. Not bad at all.

The M157 engine is getting a boost to 575 horsepower, more than the 550 offered by the Performance Package today. This appears to be done by more than just software with some hardware changes to go with it. The horsepower number will vault the E63 AMG ahead of all challengers.

The downside? No dual clutch transmission, the 7-speed automatic remains. Fairly disappointing as Audi, Porsche, and BMW offer dual clutch transmissions. It certainly is possible that the new Audi RS6 will be able to rival the E63 AMG. Regardless, with all wheel drive and more power the E63 certainly is raising and set to take the throne.

I dont think I would mind it not having the DCT...have you ever driven an SL65? The trans will shift soft or firm depending on how bad you are mashing the go pedal...floored in 1st and paddle shifting it, the shift to 2nd barked the tires and snapped my head back in the seat....same for 3rd. Even if the rest of the Benz sucks, its motor and certain the transmission seem to remain some of the best features they have ever released...

I dont think I would mind it not having the DCT...have you ever driven an SL65? The trans will shift soft or firm depending on how bad you are mashing the go pedal...floored in 1st and paddle shifting it, the shift to 2nd barked the tires and snapped my head back in the seat....same for 3rd. Even if the rest of the Benz sucks, its motor and certain the transmission seem to remain some of the best features they have ever released...

It's buyers' problem, not automakers'. If i can't handle a powerful RWD car, then i don't buy it. SMH at this.

HUH ??? That really doesn't make sense. Automakers are constantly trying to figure out how to make cars perform better. It's no secret that AWD is almost always better than RWD - it's simple physics. And they did say that the AMG 4Matic is going to be very different than the normal 4Matic. I doubt the normal person would ever know it's AWD until the system saves their life. For the enthusiast it will be a godsend. Especially after these new cars get modded to 800hp. Only question is how stout they will build the driveline. Lots of extra parts to break in an AWD application. But if what they have been building is any indication of whats to come, I think were are going to see some crazy fast tune only AMG's very soon. Personally, I think the fixed torque split is going to be amazing and stil allow the car to get tail happy if you want it to. Just going to take a lot more skill to do it...and no more big huge smoky burnouts.

Then i'm not a enthusiast, so as the dozens of people who buy 911 GT3 and GT2. Because the enthusiasts go and buy 911 TT.

Originally Posted by LZH

I doubt the normal person would ever know it's AWD until the system saves their life.

Exactly, why normal person doesn't stick to the normal car?
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It's not even a discussion. GT-R is dull and what-not because it's an automatic forced-induction AWD car, but an AMG with similar stuff is cool! Nothing against to you though , i'm just so mad at this. AMG lost it's respect IMHO.

R35 GTR (give credit to the 997 Turbo since that also has AWD & was the GTR's rival). The AWD system (and it's programming) has illustrated that you can have retard performance, AWD & still out handle (and out corner) RWD cars

has illustrated that you can have retard performance, AWD & still out handle (and out corner) RWD cars

Unfortunately power is making this somewhat true but 458 Italias, McLaren MP4-12c's, and other cars show you can be rear wheel drive and very high performance. The All Wheel Drive definitely helps drivers. It also isn't as exciting.

But, that said, all wheel drive will become more prevalent especially with these insane levels of torque they are now pushing even stock. Somewhat due to needing to move stupid heavy cars.